Historical background

Definition and categories

The term ‘social media’ can be used to refer to a variety of different forms of online communication. Social media is used by people to create communities where they can share information, ideas, messages, and content such as art, videos, music, etc.

According to the purpose they serve, social media platforms can be classified into different categories:

Social network sites are primarily used for communication. They are used to establish contact between individuals and groups, facilitating the creation of personal or professional connections between users. These services usually allow their users to create a public or semi-private profile and add other users to certain lists or groups. Some examples of social network sites are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

User-generated content sites are primarily used for creating, reviewing, and sharing content. These sites support creativity and facilitate the exchange of amateur or professional content between users. Some examples of sites that focus on user-generated content are YouTube, Flickr, and Tumblr.

There is often some overlap between the two categories in practice. YouTube's comment sectio...